Sharks Among Minnows: Germany’s First Fighter Pilots and the Fokker Eindecker Period, July 1915 to September 1916 by Norman Franks soon to be presented for sale on the incomparableBookLovers of Bath web site!

From the cover: In early 1915, with the world war in its infancy, the attention of Allied and German air strategists was focussed on trying to stop each other making reconnaissances and artillery observation sorties over the lines. Various ingenious schemes met with limited success, then suddenly in the summer of 1915 there was a breakthrough for the Germans the arrival at the front of the Fokker Eindecker.

Its advantage was the synchronised machine gun firing through the whirling blades of the propeller a revolution in contemporary air fighting. Those German pilots disposed to flying these first single-seat aeroplanes, if successful, soon became famous and the first aces. Names such as Boelcke, Immelmann, Wintgens, Parschau, Mulzer, Hohndorf, Frankl and von Althaus quickly became the first heroes to the German public and the first winners of the coveted Pour le Merits the famed Blue Max.

These men and others caused havoc amongst British and French airmen over the Western Front for just over a year, something history has called the Fokker Scourge. Although comparatively small in numbers, they were deadly when attacking lightly armed, almost defenceless British and French aeroplanes; truly sharks among minnows.

Norman Franks has covered this period in detail, bringing to light new information and insights, and explaining how these early German fighter pilots achieved their kills, who they shot down, when and where. Contains many rare and previously unpublished photos.